Jason Juno | Daily Globe Bay College’s Aloung Kang (0) leaps for a shot as GCC’s Trevon Clark defends Wednesday night at the Lindquist Center in Ironwood.

IRONWOOD — When GCC meets Bay College and DCTC this year, the playoff implications aren’t quite as significant as in years past. How they fare against those opponents will still help determine who they play in the tournament, but home-court advantage isn’t on the line this time as those games will be in North Dakota no matter who wins.

That doesn’t mean that GCC’s 57-52 loss to Bay on Wednesday night doesn’t sting.

The Samsons led 27-22 at the half while holding the Norse to 26% shooting. The tables turned in the second half as GCC’s shooting turned cold at 27%, and they also got outrebounded 28-18.

“The game means more than seeding to us because it’s a home game, and it’s Bay,” Gogebic coach Dennis Mackey said. “We played well enough at times to win. We just didn’t finish the deal.”

Bay (12-7) broke a five-game skid, shooting 46% in the second half, compared to that 26% in the first half.

“Thankfully, we did just enough to sneak one out on the road,” Bay coach Matt Johnson said. “They’re never easy to get on the road, and Dennis’s teams are always prepared. It’s not easy to play in this gym, and it wasn’t pretty, but we did just enough to sneak one out.”

Trevon Clark got the crowd going right away with a breakaway dunk to put Gogebic on the board. Otherwise, the start was all Bay as the Norse led 9-2. The Samsons scored the next eight points to take the lead and then outplayed Bay the rest of the half to take a 27-22 lead into the break.

Clark and Yohance London converted on a couple of layups on the break to put GCC up 35-26 early in the second half, but Bay followed with an 11-2 run to tie it at 37 with 12:33 left.

It was a battle from there.

GCC was facing its biggest deficit of the second half, five, when Clark made two free throws with 1:44 to make it 53-50. GCC got a stop, and Clark got to the rim on the other end to make it 53-52 with 1:15 left.

Bay was fouled with four seconds on the shot clock, and they made one free throw to make it a two-point game. Gogebic again got it to Clark, who drove the left side, pulled up for a contested shot and came up short. Two GCC players battled for the rebound. Marlen Williams had it himself and tried to call timeout, which he didn’t get, giving Bay enough time to come in for the tie-up.

The possession arrow went to Bay and Tre Burris, who got to the line more himself in the first half than GCC did the entire game (9-8), made two free throws for a 56-52 lead, and the Norse held on from there.

“He’s very capable of making that shot, and sometimes you’re not going to get a better one off a timeout. It was a good shot,” Mackey said of Clark’s attempt. Then, “we were trying to get a timeout, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to get it and Bay dove in there and tied us up and got a change of possession.

“Those are things that happen in the heat of the battle. Sometimes you get the call, sometimes you don’t. Right now, we’re a little stunned, a little frustrated because we didn’t.”

GCC missed several shots down the stretch as it worked to keep pace with Bay.

“We didn’t hit the big shots. We had looks,” Mackey said.

Johnson said his team’s intensity picked up in the second half.

“I think we played a little bit harder, and I think our defense was a little bit better,” Johnson said.

Bay’s team hasn’t had any COVID issues, but they are dealing with a couple of injuries and some other issues that caused them to play with nine of their 14 players.

Mackey looked at the physicality his team faced that made it tough to score in the second half.

The new year hasn’t been kind to the Samsons, who have started 2022 with two home losses. But both were good battles, Gogebic just didn’t shoot well in either one.

“The good news is we’re close, we’re there,” Mackey said. “It’s not like we didn’t have an opportunity to win this game. The challenge is how do we get out of this little bit of a slide right now. We lost two games back-to-back at home, we have to figure out how to right the ship.”

Clark finished with a double-double, 17 points and 10 rebounds.

“He’s a really nice player. He’s big, strong, physical and athletic,” Johnson said. “We’re going to have to do a better job when we play them at our place (Feb. 9) on him because if we don’t he’s going to make us pay, and I’m not sure that we can grit one out like this again.”

Yohance London scored 10 for Gogebic.

Burris led Bay with 17 points, with 13 coming at the line. Jacquez Overstreet and Jahlani Thornton both scored 10 points.

GCC (10-7) plays the No. 1 team in the country, South Suburban, Saturday in Escanaba at 1 p.m. and Rock Valley, which has won multiple national titles in recent years, Sunday at 10 a.m.

“Tough loss, tough to lose home games, but it’s good basketball, good competition,” Mackey said. “We just have to try to get better for the next game and give South Suburban a little shock on Saturday, that’s our goal.”

Bay (12-7) faces Rock Valley Saturday and South Suburban Sunday.

“It’s not going to be easy for Dennis’s group or my group, we’re going to have to come to battle and hopefully our kids come ready to play and we can show those Illinois teams what us Yoopers bring,” Johnson said.

Bay 22 35 — 57

GCC 27 25 — 52

Bay — Aloung Kang 9, Jacquez Overstreet 10, Tre Burris 17, Jaylen Flaniken 4, Gavin Gothard 4, Davin Hill 3, Jahlani Thornton 10. FTs: 20-27. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Hill 1.

GCC — Yohance London 10, Marlen Williams 9, FaFa Lu 3, Trevon Clark 17, Isiah Thompson 5, Adam Libertoski 2, Christian Hocking 6. FTs: 7-8. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: London 2, Lu 1, Clark 1, Thompson 1.